Baker's an idiot, same for whoever is representing him.....and gone I'd say fairly soon. how bout shutting up and honouring the contract you signed. The only possible reason you come in and ask for renegotiation is if you have a breakout season that's a major factor in team success.....well guess what, the Jets were 4-12 last year.....everyone on the team should consider themselves lucky to still have a job. Dope..... c ya. Kendall was at least smart, a more important position and coming off of a winning season and playoff appearance
Let's assume for just one moment that your above speculation is correct (and I don't believe either Baker or his agent have verified anything anywhere near this kind of conversation), but again, let's assume it's 100% correct, just for the hell of it. The only "renegotiating" Baker did was accept $800,000 last year that was due him this year. In effect, $800,000 of this year's salary was paid to him last year for Cap reasons. Quite a nice situation... being able to get your hands on a substantial part of next year's salary and put it to work collecting interest, dividends and appreciation in the stock or bond markets. Okay, that stroke of the pen involved paperwork... a contract or contract addendum, in fact. If Chris Baker is so sure the Jets agreed to renegotiate again in '08, how come there is no mention of this in writing in the new "renegotiated" contract or contract addendum that Chris Baker signed? The reason is, that conversation never happened. No one on the Jets told Chris Baker or his agent that they would renegotiate, otherwise, if this was a condition to induce Baker to sign that contract, his agent would have stipulated that this be in writing. It wasn't, because it was never said. They merely said they would "look into it." Well, they looked into it. And then they decided, when the opportunity presented itself, to go for a couple of other TEs who they thought could contribute more than Baker. This is what sports franchises do all the time. It's called running the organization.
Every team has contract issues and the only "High" profile issue was Kendall who had the same issue in AZ which is why we got him in the first place. Coles is a known liar regarding honoring contracts and basically whiny bitched his way out of here and Washington. This is what Baker claims his agent was told. No offense but that can be read as a complete blow off as much as it is we will do something if you have a great year. Did Baker have a great year last year? He didn't he was okay, below average blocker on a bad line, very good hands but no speed to seperate and become a big time pass catcher. The Jets proved in FA that they can sign players, they also have locked up the key players on the team. The biggest mistake the Jets have made regarding contracts was playing hardball with Kendall when they had a banana peel as a backup position. They certainly didn't make that mistake this time. Look for a trade which benifits the Jets.
" Baker fighting a battle he can't, and shouldn't, win " ~ ~ ~ Home > The Way We Hear It ~ ~ ~ NY Jets June 6, 2008 Baker fighting a battle he can't, and shouldn't, win TE Chris Baker is back with the Jets, but he?s not happy about it. The disgruntled tight end had failed to show up for any of the team?s voluntary workouts, but he showed up Wednesday for the first day of minicamp, when a no-show would?ve garnered him a league-mandated fine. Baker, due to earn a reported $1.65 million annually over the next two seasons, ripped the team after practice, saying, among other things, that Jets management lied to him about a renegotiated deal. He also compared his situation to that of OG Pete Kendall in 2007, saying the team?s strong-arming of the veteran guard ?basically tanked our season.? The irony in the situation, the way we hear it, is that Baker?s tantrum is the biggest distraction in Jets camp right now, not the team?s reluctance to pony up extra cash for him. Baker is wishing to be paid like an upper-echelon tight end, when the stark reality is that he isn?t one. > http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/default.htm
Get his ass out of there, that isn't good for the team and is just a cancer in the locker room. Looks like we have the traditional TE with Franks and the New TE with Keller. Tell him to hit the bricks!
You have absolutely no evidence of this. None. Baker's own former agent now admits that the "conversation" with Tannenbaum never included a "promise" to renegotiate his contract. Of the two parties involved (Baker and Tannenbaum), it now appears that Baker is the "liar," although Tanny is much too classy to use that word, so he states that he and Baker have a "difference of opinion" as to what was said. It's therefore extremely unfair to publicly convict the Jets organization of being unprofessional and insist that they need to "clean that up," when most of the evidence would indicate their story is the correct version and that Chris Baker is the one who needs to be more professional and clean up his own act. Baker hears footsteps, plain and simple, that belong to Franks and Keller, and he's trying now to use what Kendall used because it worked. It's not time for the Jets to "clean up" anything other than start trading misfits like this who eventually turn the locker room into a distracting, freakish sideshow.
This was started as another thread, but it perfectly illustrates my "yeah, where there's smoke, there's fire, but not where you're looking" post from earlier. Just like with Kendall, it's not the front office that the rest of the players are blaming, it's the individual player. If your friends aren't on your side, chances are, you're wrong.
So Pete Kendall's assertions last year are not evidence? Laveranues Coles assertions this offseason are not evidence? Note that the Jets cleaned up the Coles situation damn quick before it could explode on them. Not exactly the actions of a FO confident in it's position. Was Baker making this assertion before any "footsteps" were acquired by the Jets? If so how can you impute those footsteps to be causing this situation? I have a lot of management experience dealing with people who lie to get ahead and then suffer the consequences. The Jet's situation the last couple of years fits the situations I have experience with. It is HIGHLY improbable for an employee, particularly a highly paid one, to make this kind of assertion without blood in the water around the manager in question. In fact it's damn near impossible given breach of contract stipulations and the fact that everybody knows what is going on shortly after it actually happens. You guys seeing the Jets as Saints here and the players as Sinners really are off-base.
I think you make a good point here. The mangini line is a good one by him too. I don't know how I feel about this. I don't think they can give in now but a couple of months ago they should have paid him. He is the starting TE.
Not only do I think Baker is out of line..but to THIS day..I still believe the jets did the right thing w/ Kendall. We were talking about an oft injured 34 year old interior lineman w/ more than 2 years left on his deal. let's also keep in mind that while he was solid..he was no pro bowler either. If we were SB contenders, perhaps than we wouldve made him a one year extension offer...but not at the stage we were at. I said than and I said now...for those that think Kendall had a big part of last season's dissapointment; If one average, aging interior lineman was gonna make that big of difference on our season...than we were pitiful to begin w. That was a move made for the long term...a year later we've filled his spot w/ an all pro caliber player, and have an extra 4th round pick to show for him. Looks like a win-win to me.
My god all this time being wasted on a medicore TE. I'm sure if Franks or the new draft choice does not work out we can get another medicore TE in a moments notice. Remember 3 years ago he became a UFA & NOBODY wanted him but us
We'll have to agree to disagree. While I respect your opinion, I had my own business with 22-25 employees for over 30 years, so I also have experience in these matters. I will not spend any more time on this today... I've already said my piece... heading for the Jersey shore in a little while for the weekend! Supposed to be hot and sunny! Have a good one everyone!
So if you own a company employing 20 or so employees then why are you so worried about the upcoming PSLs?
Things associated with the Jet's move to get rid of Kendall with no replacement in hand: 1. 6 win dropoff from prior season. 2. No playoffs, although they probably weren't going ayway the Kendall move sealed the deal. 3. No progress from D'Brickashaw Ferguson in his second season. 4. Premature collapse of Chad Pennington. 5. No progress from Kellen Clemens in his second season. 6. More tread off of Thomas Jones tires than necessary as he approaches 30. 7. Collapse of Jet's offensive system to the point that it is not recognizable now due to void at LG and D'Brick being overmatched on an island. Thomas Jones left cutting back to the right is not an offensive plan it's desperation. 8. Departure of Bill Muir, a guy who fashioned two consecutive good offensive lines for the Jets under three different head coaches. He handled the losses of people like Kerry Jenkins and Randy Thomas with aplomb, with the Jets only degrading slightly in the process but he couldn't manage a line with only 1.5 pieces of talent on it so he left. That's a lot of negatives associated with not keeping your LG around for another season by quietly giving him a million dollars before he goes public and causes that and leads us into... Chris Baker.
I'm not sure I understand... Ok wsw help me out here.. He wants top tight end for chris baker play ? Essentially this is the issue
1. Again, if one aging, oft injured interior lineman was gonna make or break 6 wins in a season..we were in bad shape to begin w/ 2. see # 1 3. Technique and physically speaking...D'brickashaw made plenty of strides. Performance wise, he was still inconsistent..but hey..he took another step. In his first season..he was NEVER on an island. Second season..he struggled some in that role..but he also had some success. To me, that is progress. It takes O-lineman 3-4 years to learn the proper technique and reach their physical peak in order to truly succeed. We're only 2 years in...and he's come a long way since college. 4. Even when our Line was GIVING penny time early last season..his lack of arm strength was all too apparent, and was holding our offense back. His collapse was only a matter of time. 5.Of course Clemens made progress! He went from being a back-up to being the starting QB! He made some positive plays as starter...that's improvment if you ask me. 6.wha? Whether we had a good OL or not..TJ was still gonna have more tread off his tires. he was gonna come closer to 30 either way. 7. see # 1. 8. Bill Muir left 6 years ago, and never coached pete Kendall.
Someone should explain to Baker that "looking into something" isn't a promise you're going to get it... What a fucking baby...
Coles was not given a dime more then his contract stipulated. The 11 mill (which is what the last two years of his contract called for) was guaranteed by the Jets thats all, which they were going to do anyway..The difference between the Baker and Coles situation is night and day.
I can see CB's former agent coming back from discussions with Tannenbaum saying "yeah, their going to front you 600K or 800K (not sure the amount) of next year's salary and they'll look at restructuring your contract at the end of the season if you fair well this year." CB's former agent banks 5% of that fronted money - not too shabby and keeps CB happy with the embellishment of the truth for a "promise" of a new deal. I'd imagine Tannenbaum would have been very careful with his wording in saying something along the lines of "we'll have a look at CB's contract situation at the end of the year." At the end of the day, if Baker truly deserves (in the eyes of the franchise) a salary increase/new deal, the FO would give him one. It's clear Baker values himself much higher than the FO. I agree with the FO - don't give him a thing, not worth it. And I agree, I'm getting really frustrated with this claim that he is the 3rd highest paid TE on the team. Keller isn't signed and his salary for this year is the same as Bubba's. Just because the Jets pre-paid a portion if his salary doesn't mean he's not still earning it this year. I can't believe a TE with a career high 400 yds in 6 yrs is getting this much attention.
